Week 13 : Mark 1:1 - 2:12

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Mark 1:1

So begins the gospel of Mark. Whereas Matthew presents us with the genealogy of the King to establish His antecedents and status, and Luke recounts His human ancestry to prove that He is a genuine and proper man, and John describes His divine origins as the eternal God, Mark introduces the Lord in a most simple and straightforward way. Mark's intention is to present to us the servant of God, a Slave-Saviour. There is little record of His speaking (for example, on the kingdom of God in Matt. 5-7), but much detail concerning His deeds in the carrying out of His gospel service. This is because in the case of a slave, no-one is interested in their background, their origins, nor what they say. The only value of a slave is in what they do, and this is the particular flavour that permeates Mark's writing. Mark's gospel is the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning Christ as the Slave of Jehovah in Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; 49:5-7; 50:4-8 and 52:13-53:12.

If you go into a museum and look at Western artistic portrayals of the Lord Jesus (or, this being a blog, do a Google search), you will undoubtedly see an attractive and pleasant image. However, according to Isaiah:

Even as many were astonished at Him - His visage was marred more than that of any man, and His form more than that of the sons of men... He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him."
Isaiah 52:14, 53:2

There was nothing outwardly attractive or captivating about this Man, yet He drew countless to Himself, through the beauty and excellence of His deeds in His gospel service.

Week 12 : Matt. 26:27 - Matt. 28:20

In the Lord's crucifixion as portrayed in Matthew 27, we see man's unrighteousness to the highest degree. Unrighteousness upon unrighteousness was done to the Lord Jesus: the Jewish leaders were unrighteous in arresting, judging and binding Him; the Roman leader, Pontius Pilate, was unrighteous in handing Him over, despite finding Him to be innocent; Judas, of course, was unrighteous for betraying Him; and the Roman soldiers were unrighteous in their treatment of Him, mocking, beating and spitting on Him, and forcing Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross. In His crucifixion, Jesus fully exposed man's complete unrighteousness.

However, Jesus did not only expose the unrighteousness, He also bore it. For three hours from midday, all the sin and unrighteousness of the world were placed upon Him - as He bore this weight, "darkness fell over all the land" (Matt. 27:45). This was the point at which the righteous God could come in and judge all the unrighteousness of His creature.

This matter of God's righteousness is fundamental to the gospel, as it is the basis upon which we are saved. The apostle Paul said:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, both to Jew first and to Greek. For the righteousness of God is revealed in it out of faith to faith, as it is written, "But the righteous shall have life and live by faith."
Romans 1:16-17

The gospel is powerful not because of God's love or grace toward us, but because He is righteous. It is possible for love or grace to fluctuate, but God's righteousness cannot, for it is one of His highest attributes:

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy throne.
Psalms 89:14

It is upon this righteousness that the kingdom of God is built. History reveals to us that all human government is unrighteous to one degree or another, but God's government is built upon His righteousness. Having judged us once in Christ's crucifixion, God cannot, according to His righteousness, judge us again; so we may have the full assurance that, having been saved by His love and grace, our salvation is eternally secured by His righteousness.

I really enjoy the following hymn by Watchman Nee:

1. Why should I worry, doubt and fear?
Has God not caused His Son to bear
My sins upon the tree?
The debt that Christ for me has paid,
Would God another mind have made
To claim again from me?

2. Redemption full the Lord has made,
And all my debts has fully paid,
From law to set me free.
I fear not for the wrath of God,
For I’ve been sprinkled with His blood,
It wholly covers me.

3. For me forgiveness He has gained,
And full acquittal was obtained,
All debts of sin are paid;
God would not have His claim on two,
First on His Son, my Surety true,
And then upon me laid.

4. So now I have full peace and rest,
My Savior Christ hath done the best
And set me wholly free;
By His all-efficacious blood
I ne’er could be condemned by God,
For He has died for me!
Hymns #1003

Week 11 : Matt. 25:1 - 26:26

The Parable of the Wise Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13) is one of two parables that the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples in Jerusalem, shortly before His arrest. It follows a series of prophecies concerning the beginning of the end times, spoken in an open and clear way, so that the Jews would hear and understand. However, according to Matt. 13:12-13, when the Lord spoke in parables, it was so that only His followers would understand. This implies that the content of the parables concerns the church.

The parable starts with 10 virgins, taking their lamps and going forth to meet the bridegroom. Ten is the major part of twelve (see Gen. 42:3-4, 1 Kings 11:30-31 and Matt. 20:24), which signifies that this parable concerns the majority of the believers, those who have died before the Lord's return (the remaining two are the man working in the field and the woman grinding at the wheel, who are raptured while alive at the Lord's coming in Matt. 24:40-41). 2 Cor. 11:2 likens the believers to virgins, while the lamp signifies our bearing of the Lord's testimony, for which we need the filling of the Spirit, signified by the oil. The bridegroom, of course, is Christ, the most attractive and pleasant Person in the universe (John 3:29, Matt. 9:15).

Five of the virgins were prudent and brought with them vessels of oil; the number five is composed of four plus one, signifying that man (signified by four) with God (signified by one) added to him bears responsibility. That five virgins are foolish does not imply that half of all believers are foolish; instead, it implies that all believers must bear the responsibility for being filled with the Holy Spirit.

In verse 5, we see that the bridegroom delayed - the Lord has still not returned - and while waiting for His return, the believers eventually "became drowsy and slept" i.e. died. However, the cry goes out at midnight, "Behold, the bridegroom! Go forth to meet him!", which refers to the resurrection of the dead believers at the time of the great tribulation, as prophesied in 1 Thess. 4:16 and 1 Cor. 15:52.

However, the foolish virgins did not have sufficient oil in their vessels for their lamps i.e. they had not paid the price sufficiently to be filled in spirit during their lifetime, and so even after their resurrection, there is the need for that price to be paid. That the prudent virgins would not share their oil with the foolish implies that we cannot be filled in spirit on behalf of others. While the foolish virgins represent believers who are regenerated with the Spirit of God and indwelt by the Spirit of God, just as the prudent ones are, they have not been sufficiently filled with Him to have their whole being saturated with Him.

Instead, they are advised to go and buy oil, in other words to pay a price for the filling of the Spirit. Such a cost includes giving up the world, dealing with the self, loving the Lord above all, and counting all things loss for Christ. Those who sell the oil refers to the two witnesses, the two sons of oil, referred to in Zech. 4:11-14 and Rev. 11:3-4, being Moses and Elijah.

But while they are filling their vessels, the prudent virgins are raptured, because they are ready and they are watchful, and during their life, they paid the price to be filled in Spirit. They are admitted to the wedding feast, the 1000 years of the millennial kingdom, where they enjoy the presence of the King. The door behind them is shut so that the foolish virgins cannot enter. We should be clear that this refers not to the door of salvation - the foolish virgins have not lost their eternal salvation, but they do miss the 1000 years of enjoyment in the millennial kingdom. They miss their dispensational reward, but do not lose their eternal salvation.

This last point is quite crucial, and many Christians miss the distinction. In many places in the New Testament, the Word talks about the losing of salvation, where in other places it talks about eternal salvation. All Christians should be very clear - when they receive the Lord Jesus, they receive the eternal life, and will be saved from eternal judgement and eternal perdition. However, the other aspect of salvation is the dispensational reward, and that is only given to those who overcome, who pay the price to be filled in Spirit, who are watchful and prudent. Those who fail to meet that qualification are not qualified to enjoy the reward during the millennial kingdom, and instead will suffer some kind of governmental discipline during those thousand years, until they are matured. Then they will enter into the New Jerusalem for eternity with the overcoming believers and the nation of Israel.